It goes without saying that I love to cook, but sometimes I find myself choosing easy meals to make (especially during the busy work week) or simply choose takeout because I don’t feel like preparing a more in-depth meal. A new meal delivery service called Home Chef takes the busy work out of cooking and delivers fully prepped meals and easy-to-follow instructions right to your doorstep. Each meal kit includes every ingredient needed to prepare the meal. Each ingredient is individually bagged and labeled so there’s no guess work as to which ingredients go into which dish.

I was so impressed with the quality of the kits that Home Chef sent. In my kit were three separate meals: Lamb Meatballs With Creamy Polenta and Tomato Ragout, Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Salad With Pan Seared Chicken and Panko Crusted Cod With Roasted Baby Carrots and Asparagus. Every meal took less than 30 minutes to prepare and included step-by-step photo recipe instruction cards.

Every meal was restaurant quality incredible. My favorite was the Lamb Meatballs with a sweet and tangy tomato Ragout served over creamy polenta.

The wonderful folks at Home Chef are giving away Two Free Weeks of Home Chef Meals (three, two-serving meals each week) to one lucky Sweet Pea’s Kitchen reader! Since Home Chef is a Chicago Based company and delivers fresh ingredients, the winner needs to live in their delivery area, which is essentially anywhere East of the Colorado River with exception to Florida and Maine. You can confirm they deliver to you by using the zip check form on the homepage.

They’re also offering my readers a 50% discount on your first order placed from now until Tuesday, March 11, 2014. Just use coupon code ‘SweetPeas’ at checkout. That means you get 3 complete meal kits for less than $5 per serving. That’s less than the price of a fast food meal!

How to Enter: Leave a comment on this post answering the question: “Have you ever tried a Home Delivery Food Service?”

Extra Entries: The following five opportunities below will earn one extra entry into the giveaway for each. You must leave separate comments for each one to ensure that they are counted as separate entries:

Subscribe to Sweet Pea’s Kitchen by either RSS or Email. Come back and let me know you have subscribed in an additional comment.

PLEASE REMEMBER: Leave a separate comment for EACH of your entries or only one entry will be counted.

Deadline:Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at 12:00am CSTGIVEAWAY CLOSED!!

Winner: The winner will be selected at random by Sweet Pea’s Kitchen using Random.org. The giveaway is only open to U.S. residents that Home Chef delivers to. Before entering, please confirm they deliver to you by using the zip check form on their homepage. Be sure a valid email address is included with your comment(s). All entries received after the deadline will not be considered. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If the winner does not reply within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Dice the shallot into small pieces.

2. Place the ground lamb, cumin, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. pepper in a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together to incorporate. Form the mixture into six meatballs and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Roast the meatballs for 10-12 minutes or until meatballs are firm and golden brown.

3. In a medium sized pot, bring 3 cups of water, and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil. Add the polenta to the water, whisking constantly until incorporated. Reduce to a simmer and stir for 5 minutes or until polenta is soft and creamy. Remove from heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter to the polenta and cover. Reserve for plating.

4. Heat a large sauté pan over low heat and add 1 tbsp. oil to the pan. Sauté the chopped shallot for 2 minutes or until translucent. Add the diced tomatoes and sugar to the pan then mix together. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes then add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Place the polenta on an angle from corner to corner on a plate. Top the polenta with three meatballs. Spoon the ragout over the meatballs. Finish the dish by topping with fresh baby arugula.

I haven’t tried a home food delivery service but would love to. I live in a pretty remote area and find it hard to locate some fresh ingredients that recipes call for. It would be so wonderful to have it all delivered right to the door! Thanks so much for the chance to try this service out.